Designer

Biography

Maria Cornejo was born in Chile and moved to England with her family when she was a child. She now lives with her husband, the photographer Mark Borthwick and their two children in Brooklyn, New York.
Maria’s varied career spans London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo where she was part of the ground-breaking design partnership Richmond Cornejo; developed her own signature “Maria Cornejo” collection; and worked as a creative consultant for major retailers like Joseph, Tehen and Jigsaw.

In 1996, Maria and her family moved to New York where in 1997, she transformed a raw space in Nolita into a highly creative atelier and store. Her uncompromising and very personal approach has gained her a loyal following and high praise from clients like Tilda Swinton, Christy Turlington, Cindy Sherman and First Lady Michelle Obama. It has been said of her work - “In Maria Cornejo’s hands, minimalism is not a bland word . . . her clothes have a sleek sophistication and always a sense of surprise.”
Having been a finalist for the Fashion Prize of the 2005 Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards, Maria Cornejo was honored as the winner of the award for 2006.

In May 2006 Zero + Maria Cornejo opened its second store in New York’s far- West Village neighborhood and in February 2009 moved to its flagship store/showroom/atelier at 33 Bleecker Street, New York. In the Fall of 2010 Zero + Maria Cornejo opened its first store outside the New York area in Los Angeles, CA on Melrose Place.
The Zero + Maria Cornejo collection is presented bi-annually during New York Fashion Week and Paris. The line is sold in leading stores around the world such as Barneys New York, Ikram Chicago; Holt Renfrew in Canada; Browns UK; Harvey Nichols Dubai and net-a-porter.com.

Designer

Maria Cornejo

Label

Company profile

Spare, modern, architectural, minimal, feminine, and unpretentious are all words that have been used to describe Maria Cornejo’s work. Her collection is named ZERO as an expression of a pure vision: ZERO is a number that neither adds nor subtracts; it is, rather, a point of departure. Her handwriting is confident and sure and each season, she reaches into her own experience – with a very international point of view – to develop a collection that is unexpectedly simple yet based on sophisticated cuts and angles. Using volume and circular shapes as a starting point, garments are often draped and cut from one piece of fabric. Each season, Maria refines her techniques to develop modern ways of imagining dynamic and intelligent clothing for women.

Maria’s career spans London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo where she developed her own signature “Maria Cornejo” collection and worked as a creative consultant for major retailers in Italy, the UK and France. In 1996, Maria and her family moved to New York where in 1997, she transformed a raw space in Nolita into a highly creative atelier and store. Her collections are presented bi-annually in New York and Paris. Her collection is sold at her own store, and in leading stores around the world such as Barneys New York, Holt Renfrew Toronto & Montreal, Ikram Chicago and Blake Chicago; Satine Los Angeles and Weathervane Santa Monica; Joyce Hong Kong; and Dover Street Market London.

Her uncompromising and very personal approach has gained her a loyal following and high praise from clients like Michelle Obama, Tilda Swinton, Cindy Sherman, Anna Gaskell, Sofia Coppola, Cameron Diaz and Marisa Tomei; and industry watchers alike: it has been said of her work - “In Maria Cornejo’s hands, minimalism is not a bland word.” “Her clothes have a sleek sophistication and always a sense of surprise.”

Fashion shows & sales campaign

Contacts & showrooms

Management

Marysia Woroniecka led one of London’s pre-eminent fashion PR firms in the 1980’s, where she represented designers like Vivienne Westwood, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries van Noten – and where she first worked with Maria Cornejo whose Richmond Cornejo collection achieved worldwide recognition. In 1995, Marysia relocated to New York, where she became a pioneer in the use of interactive and online technology for the fashion and luxury industries and where she founded an interactive and e-business consulting firm which developed early ecommerce strategies and first websites for Gucci, Art + Commerce, Benetton and Cartier.

Later, with Prada, Marysia led the effort to develop and integrate groundbreaking in-store technology and communications concepts within Prada’s Epicenter store program in New York and Tokyo.

In 2005, after long admiring Maria Cornejo’s work with Zero + Maria Cornejo, Marysia joined her old friend and colleague as a partner to help grow the brand. Since then the company has grown exponentially, adding two directly operated stores (one in New York and one in Los Angeles) to the original NY location; increasing wholesale business tenfold; and adding menswear and more categories like shoes, swim and accessories.